Net Surf
Zap! Bam! Zowie!
Comic books aren't new. Neither is the Web. But together, they breathe life into static storyboards. Publishers, game developers, and average underground illustrators have all jumped on the broadband bandwagon to satisfy audiences craving more than a typical comic book. Animation, sound files, and VR push these works beyond the print medium, but it's their interactivity that makes them compelling.
DC Comics's unusual title at www.mediadome.com/Webisodes/Xero/ features a hero named Xero. When he's not dribbling on the courts as a pro basketball player, he's chasing down bad guys as a government secret agent. He's got an attitude problem and a big ego, but more important, he's got a really cool costume. The creators also added RealVR so readers can see the world through Xero's eyes.
Even though comic book publishers refuse to be left at the Web's wayside, it's the software and gaming companies that wow audiences most with their broadband comics. Microsoft and VR-1 team up to create a Top Gun clone called Hypersonic (www.vr1.com/comics/). Made entirely using Streaming Shockwave software, the comic, set in 2006, unfolds the tale of a war between China and Vietnam. The Leathernecks of the 1st Marine Amphibious Force battle the Chinese and a few UFOs. After you're done reading the latest issue, you can hop into a fighter jet in the arcade section, join the mission, and shoot down enemy planes.
For a more far-out experience, WhirlGirl follows the adventures of Kia Cross who helps "a rebel movement liberate the virtual universe from a tyrannical media-tech empire." The comic, which bears an uncanny resemblance to MTV's Aeon Flux, also has a thumping soundtrack from the New York-based band Halcion. A new episode of WhirlGirl, a production of Visionary Media LLC, goes online at www.whirlgirl.com/ every Thursday.
Then there's Migraine Boy ( www.migraineboy.com/ ) - not exactly your typical superhero. First seen on the R.E.M. Monster CD booklet, the squiggly-drawn antihero now rants in RealAudio, thanks to Greg Fiering. He also insults his friends via Java animations, an experience that gives readers an interactive headache stronger than any mere pulp comic could ever produce.
Web-based comics like these force readers to pay attention and play along with the story; they challenge our short attention spans and draw us into complex metaworlds.
Hang Ten
It's the perfect site for Web surfers who really surf. At Surf Check, wave riders who plunk down about US$10 a month can suss out frame grabs of their favorite break before shutting down the virtual office and heading to the beach. Video cameras at 80 strategic spots in California, Mexico, Hawaii, and Costa Rica provide the eye candy - the most extensive camera coverage of any Web site. Other features include real-time National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association buoy reports and seven-day swell forecasts, as well as regular updates on wave heights, water temperature, and tides. Although Surf Check's forecasts are probably no better than other services, they are the most convenient. Subscribers receive regular wave reports via email and can even sign up to get a heads-up when the surf at their home beach is really going off. The site's motto says it all - "All eyes, no lies."
What Becomes a Legend Most
Test your gullible friends' rational investigation skills by referring them to the Urban Legends Reference Pages. David Mikkelson, self-proclaimed public affairs officer for the mythical San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, and his wife, Barbara, have created an enormous storehouse of the rumors we've all heard: alligators roam the sewers of New York; Richard Gere has a peculiar affinity for gerbils; pull tabs from aluminum cans are redeemable for sex or kidney dialysis. Four categories separate fact from fiction (true, false, unverifiable, and untraceable); any rumor worthy of more than a few lines receives full academic treatment, complete with a formal bibliography. Incidentally, Walt Disney did not put himself in cryogenic deep freeze: his death certificate proves it.
Be Sure to Write
Say you move into a brand-new apartment and it doesn't seem quite as dreamy as you imagined. You write your landlord a letter (hey, it's 1987) and tell him that the place just isn't as enchanted as it could be.
Painfully hilarious, The Jane & Carol Letters reads like the transcript of a prank phone call gone wrong. Tenants-from-hell, Jane and Carol are ruthless in their attempts to get their landlord Bill to pay for exorcisms, construction of a "spirit house," and a pair of torn jeans. As zany as an off-Broadway play, the missives reveal Jane's familial ties to the Bush clan and conspiracy theories concerning the neighborhood's free firewood supply; they even touch on religion when they ask: "Do you know any bargain gurus?" Unearthed in a copy shop, these outtakes prove that great letters never die, they're just stashed away in dusty corners, waiting to go binary.
home.pacbell.net/freud/janeandcarol/
Sites, Drugs, and Rock & Roll
Ah, San Francisco's indie music club scene - the attitude, the choking smoke, the obstructed views - ain't it wonderful? And yet 9up wants to improve on all that by delivering to your desktop - sans ambiance - the action unfolding onstage at its rehearsal-cum-performance space. The site goes live every other Saturday; see what local beats are cranking by signing up at nineup@nineup.com for the email listing of upcoming events. Live via WebVideo, RealAudio, and VDO, 9up broadcasts four-hour happenings that include performances, interviews, and lots of on-camera beer drinking by SF bands.
Better-knowns, such as Marginal Prophets and The Buckets, join the roster of more than 35 groups in 9up's archives; others, including Shitty Shitty Band Band and Vim, are hoping that the Web's potential audience greases their slides into fame. Friendly, simple Help pages make even the newest Net naïf comfortable connecting. Still, it's hard to beat the feel of the Chameleon on a weekend: maybe if you invite more than 100 drunk friends and leave 50 Winstons smoldering in the ashtray ...
True Lies
Did Martha Stewart try to run down her neighbor's gardener in a car? Did Elvis Presley finger The Beatles and the Smothers Brothers as nefarious liberal Hollywood influences? What sort of bizarre demands does Michael Bolton make on his roadies? The answers to these questions and more can be found at The Smoking Gun, a Web site that doesn't just speculate about celebrities, it provides documentation.
Started by New York journalists Daniel Green and William Bastone, the site posts court papers and other notarized documents relating to all sorts of celebrity foibles and entanglements. The collection includes the contents of Jerry Garcia's estate, a DUI report that shows Tim Allen's given name is Dick, and an FBI report in which Elvis Presley is said to blame the trouble with America's youth on the "suggestive music" of The Beatles.
The site is a refreshing alternative to a growing number of Internet sites that doctor documentation and offer specious proofs to wild theories. (Just ask Pierre Salinger.) Put another way: The Smoking Gun may be cheap, sleazy gossip, but it's the kind of cheap, sleazy gossip you can comfortably wield with authority.
I Think, Therefore Icon
"Whadd'ya mean you don't have the Vorlon mothership?" The mail room at The Iconfactory is full of queries from exasperated readers, pleading with Factory workers to forge Mac-compatible icons resembling everything from UPS trucks to Mexican food.
Meeting the demands of the fanatical by kicking out scads of impressively detailed freeware icons are Gedeon Maheux, Talos Tsui, Corey Marion, and Craig Hockenberry. Although their amazing Batman, The Animated Series and Superman, The Animated Series were removed after complaints by DC Comics, there are dozens of other translations: Ewoks and Federation Starships share space with Wallace, Gromit, and the colorful, high-contrast "Kidcons." The crew has even inspired faithful Windows interpretations of their flashy designs at home.earthlink.net/~webworm/icfactor.htm.
To save some disk space once you've started collecting these digital accoutrements, the Factory makes available the slick IconDropper application, which stores icons in condensed packs, allowing for drag and drop capabilities.
Your desktop's never had it so good.
Colin Berry (colin@wired.com) Michael Murphy (scarf@well.com)
Matt Richtel (matrichtel@aol.com)
Alex Salkever (salkever@lava.net)
Dan Sicko (urbfutur@mindspring.com)
Jacob Ward (jacob@wired.com)
